Sunday, March 23, 2008

Willenhall is a suburb of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. Willenhall is in the south-east of the city adjacent to the suburbs of Binley, Ernesford Grange and Whitley. It covers the area bounded by the Rugby to Coventry railway line, the River Sowe and the city's boundary with Warwickshire. For general election purposes it is part of the Coventry SouthConstituency and for local elections it forms part of the Binley and Willenhall ward on Coventry City Council. Willenhall was originally a small village that was absorbed into the city as it expanded. During the Second world war the Chace National Service Hostel was built in the area to accommodate the influx of munitions workers to the City. After the war the estate became established with the building of a large number of council houses. The area today remains mainly residential though to the south-east there is 9 hectars of woodland called Willenhall Wood which has been designated a nature reserve. Willenhall is now the location of the Chace Avenue police station which is the home of the M2 operational command unit of the West Midlands Police that covers most of the south and south-eastern areas of Coventry. Schools Willenhall was the site of a major air crash when at 9:52 a.m. on 21 December1994 an aircraft approaching Coventry Airport, in poor visibility, crashed in to Willenhall Wood, killing all five crew on board. The aircraft was a Boeing 737 that was owned and operated by Air Algerie but leased by Phoenix Aviation to undertake a number of live veal calf export flights from the airport. A brass plaque remembering the event is now located in Middle Ride, close to the crash scene, which was erected on the crash's 10th anniversary by the Willenhall Wood Residents Association.